The Hundred in the Hands: "Pigeons" Video

From Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" to Sigur Rós' "Glósóli", great music videos are bursts of sound and vision that leave an indelible impression. Director's Cut is a Pitchfork News feature in which we chat with music video directors about their creations. The men and women behind the camera are often overlooked in today's YouTube era, but this feature aims to highlight their hard work while showcasing the best videos currently linking around the internet. A little behind-the-scenes dirt couldn't hurt, too.

This time we spoke with directing duo DANIELS, aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who are responsible for the wildly tipsy late-night adventure video for dance-rock group the Hundred in the Hands' "Pigeons". The clip follows a woman who's had about eight too many-- she stumbles, trips, and unleashes some of the prettiest puke we've ever seen. It's as much of a fantastic video about being drunk as much as it's a fantastic drunk video.

Kwan and Scheinert met while studying 3D animation at Boston's Emerson College, from which they both recently graduated. After gaining notice for a freakish goofball online video called "Swingers", the pair directed a homemade music video for Icelandic band FM Belfast. Now represented by the prestigious Warp Films, "Pigeons" marks their first major video. We spoke with them about special effects, blacking out, and peeing yourself. Watch the clip and read the Q&A below:

The Hundred in the Hands: "Pigeons" [Directors: DANIELS]

Pitchfork: You guys went to school for 3D animation. What's your philosophy as far as using effects in your work?

Daniel Scheinert: We have a reputation for being special effects guys, but we're like an effects artist's nightmare because we like to make things up as we go. When we shot this video we didn't have any sort of plan for pulling off the effects; we had to figure it out in post-production. While 3D animation is usually all about this mathematical precision of creating detailed drop-shadows and back reflections, we just wanted to see if we could make a girl throw up fireworks.

Daniel Kwan: We're not really perfectionists when it comes to effects-- it's more fun to make charming effects than ones that are photo-realistic. That's not how we work at all because, well, we can't do that [laughs]. But also it's a lot more exciting to see what comes organically from the footage.

Pitchfork: So you knew you were going to use fireworks in this video, but you didn't know how you would pull it off when you were shooting it?

DS: Right. And that requires a huge leap of faith on the part of the producers. We really appreciated how gung-ho everyone was when we were like, "OK, pretend there's fireworks! Everyone freak out!"

Pitchfork: A lot of the video involves real-life, non-effects details like the main character's acting, too.

DK: We love really fun visual treats but ultimately we're more interested in characters and strong narratives. So to be able to fuse that into something really effect-heavy was important to us.

DS: I came from a theater background before getting into film so I loved working with an actress on something that didn't just involve dancing or being pretty. We tried to show as much variety in the drunkenness as we could because alcohol is equal parts hilarious and terrifying. We'd be like, "Pretend you're puking fireworks but you're also kind of crying!" Every once in a while she would stop and be like, "Wait... what?!" But she was game for everything. We just wanted to see if we could make a video feel drunk.

Pitchfork: Did you consider using anything other than fireworks for a vomit substitute?

DK: We thought about colored smoke.

DS: And, for everybody wondering, the real-looking puke at the beginning of the video was actually Honey Bunches of Oats.

Pitchfork: Is this video based on any real-life experiences?

DS: Yes, we usually throw up fireworks when we drink tequila. [laughs] It's based on real-life college experiences that we've seen more than experienced. One time, my roommate told me about how she got embarrassingly drunk while watching the movie Jackass in high school and then puked on herself in the theater and then went outside and completely missed puking in the trash can and then peed herself. She's giving me a thumb's up now. [laughs]

Pitchfork: That's terrible.

DS: Everyone has seen how exciting and terrifying it is to be drunk and look into someone's eyes and they're like, "You don't know where you are, do you?"